Practical Ethics in Data Science

In collaboration with the Halıcıoğlu Institute, the Institute for Practical Ethics will examine the ethical issues emerging from big data and related scientific tools.

The Institute for Practical Ethics develops and promotes cross-disciplinary research on ethical issues facing the public, with special emphasis on fostering deliberation amongst ethicists, scientists and policy makers.

UC San Diego is one of the world's greatest producers of technology, medical innovations and scientific knowledge. These developments can offer great benefits to humanity, but they often raise urgent ethical questions. The aim of the Institute for Practical Ethics is to help close the gap between the pace of innovation and our ability to deal with these questions responsibly.

The Institute for Practical Ethics, which is hosted in the Division of Arts and Humanities, is based on a holistic vision: That vision is focused on the theoretical and pragmatic aspects of ethical problems, founded on a partnership among social scientists, natural scientists and humanists, and attentive to both social and individual-level problems. Craig Callender of the Department of Philosophy and John Evans of the Department of Sociology serve as co-directors.

One of the first topics the both Institutes will be working together to address is the social implications and ethics of Big Data, artificial intelligence and related scientific tools.